Judge to hear petition to block sand drying plant

POPLARVILLE — A Pearl River County judge has scheduled a hearing tomorrow on a petition from some residents seeking to block development of five acres near the construction site of a sand drying plant in Picayune.

The Alliance Consulting Group is locating the plant on 30 acres between Nicholson and Picayune. The $30-million plant would service the oil industry, and would create 40-50 jobs.

At issue, according to the Picayune Item, is a five-acre area near the industrial site that residents of the Raven Wood subdivision claim the county allowed to be built up during construction of the plant and that has caused flooding in the subdivision.

They argue the five acres was dedicated to use only as “open space” by federal regulations.

The Raven Wood residents claim the county has ignored them and failed to make timely upgrades, required by law, to its flood plain ordinance.

Board of supervisors’ attorney Joe Montgomery had no comment on the case because it was in court.

The county acquired the five acres through a FEMA-MEMA hazardous mitigation process by acquiring an old trailer park. The trailer park was torn down and the land reverted to what is called “open space use,” upon which no structures can ever be built, according to the court documents.

There are no structures on the property now. Raven Wood residents said dirt was hauled in to build it up and a road constructed across it so Alliance would have access to its property.

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